Ok so i tried to make my first amp and it works! it's based off of a LM386 chip driving an 8 ohm speaker. if i play very softly, like so softly you can barely hear the noise is not there, however if you play loud (hard on strings) it will come out like it has a fuzz pedal before it.  Any suggestions on cleaning up the tone a bit?

If you play a chord and let it ring out, as it tapers off the noise drops off suddenly.

The instructions i used were here:

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Build_Your_Own_Guitar_Amplifier

Thanks in advance.